


The Phantom Of Hermitcraft

by CrazyCatMeow



Series: The Meteor Effect [20]
Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Bdubs can’t deal, Body Horror, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, fangs, full transformation, messed up sleep schedule, phantom screeching, phantoms, scales - Freeform, tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyCatMeow/pseuds/CrazyCatMeow
Summary: Bdubs shuts his eyes squeezing them tightly. The light is way to bright and gives him a headache.
Relationships: Family - Relationship, Friends - Relationship, nope
Series: The Meteor Effect [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529078
Comments: 64
Kudos: 211





	1. Why have you brought me here?

Doc frowns as he looks over some papers, Biffa had given him a full report about what happened to Mumbo and he had spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how the meteor came up with that complicated of a design. By all expectations, the meteor shouldn’t know how to make something that complicated. He walks out into the main room where the meteor is stored and glares at it. It seems to sense his glare and it suddenly glows bright green before going dark once again. His communicator lights up with an alert from the meteor, “If you knew who I was you wouldn’t dare glare at me.”

“You’ve caused enough trouble, I will look at you how I want.”

At this, he spins on his heel and heads out heading back to his base. As he’s arriving an alert pings his communicator. It’s saying the meteor has activated. As he reads this he frowns and pulls up the security feeds. It’s giving off black ash looking particles along with some bright green ones mixed in. Doc’s eyes go wide as he flicks the volume on and a screech not unlike nails on a chalkboard sounds, he quickly switches the sound off, “That can’t be good.”

Bdubs wakes with a start. Unsure of what time it is he groggily sits up and blinks in the harsh light coming through the window. Stumbling over he snaps the curtains closed and looks over at his communicator. As he flicks it on he drops it, hissing in pain and covering his eyes with his hands.

His eyes well with tears in attempts to stop the burning sensation. Carefully he squints his eyes open and turns the brightness down. Sending a panicked message to the main chat he burrows under a blanket. He sits there for a while with his eyes closed before cautiously opening them.

No pain, yet. Bdubs pulls a face as he realizes he can see just fine. Even though it should be nearly pitch black under the blanket. He can still make out all the different fibers from the blanket. Not daring to move the blankets he stays put hoping that someone would come to help him.

As he reads Bdubs message Doc shoves his papers into a desk and activates his elytra. Within seconds he’s at Bdubs main base. He cautiously knocks on the door, when there’s no answer he opens it. Looking around he cautiously walks in, he walks into the bedroom, “You in here?”

“Doc?” The slightly slurred voice of Bdubs whispers, “Is that you?”

“It’s me, why don’t you come out from there?”

“NO!” Bdubs shouts panicked, “I’m staying right here.”

Doc looks at him growing nervous, “What happened?” He whispers as he kneels down next to the bed

“I don’t know why but everything is way too bright.”

“Do you want to borrow my sunglasses?”

There’s a moment of silence before he answers, “Yeah.”

Bdubs sticks his hand out of the blankets and grabs the pair of glasses. He puts them on then cautiously pokes his head out. Wincing a bit at the light he stands up and looks over at Doc.

Doc’s eyes go wide, “Come with me. Now.” He orders.

“What, why?” Bdubs stammers as Doc starts walking towards the door.

“Meteor’s got you, we need to go somewhere dark so I can get a good look at your eyes.”

Bdubs relents and follows Doc outside, the moment he steps into the full harsh afternoon light he winces and shuts his eyes tightly. Doc carefully pulls him along into his escape tunnel. 

Once they are in a good way Doc tells Bdubs to open his eyes.

He cautiously opens his eyes and blinks a few times, “That’s better.”

“Can you take the glasses off?” Doc asks as he walks towards Bdubs.

Nodding he slowly takes the glasses off, “Doc? Are you ok?”

Doc looks shocked, “Bdubs, your eyes look like phantom eyes.”

“Oh, that’s probably not good,” Bdubs mutters as he slides down the wall.

“No,” Doc mutters in agreement as he sits down next to him, I’m going to message Xisuma, he might have some blackout glasses that should help.”

Bdubs nods and looks around the dimly lit tunnel as he waits for Xisuma and the glasses.

………….

As it turns out Xisuma did not have any blackout glasses, but he and Biffa do know how to make some. It will take them a couple of hours to do this though. So Bdubs stays in the tunnel with Doc for a while. 

During the time they spend in the tunnel, Doc conducts a couple of tests to see exactly what had happened to Bdubs’ eyes. They look a lot like Xisuma’s eyes, just a much more vibrant, piercing poisonous green instead of the much darker forest color. He can see perfectly fine in dimly lit conditions, but if it’s pitch black he can’t see anything, much like everyone else. His eyes are extremely sensitive to sunlight, but with other light sources, he’s more ok with it. 

Bdubs stifles a yawn and slums further down on the wall.

“You ok?”

“Just really tired, not really sure why as I woke up like three hours ago.”

Doc lets out a low hiss, “It’s like three PM.”

“Well, that’s fantastic,” Bdubs grumbles, “Not only have my eyes been messed up, but my sleep schedule.”

“Xisuma should get here soon,” Doc replies as he pokes at his communicator.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Xisuma runs down the tunnel and stops in front of them, his claws clicking on the ground as he runs. He shakes his head and stands up stumbling a bit as he tries to regain his balance. 

He grins from under his helmet, “Here you are Bdubs,” He hands Bdubs a small back case with the blackout glasses inside.

“X, are you ok?” Doc asks as he notices the admin looks a bit off. Not in a bad way just kind of melancholy, and distracted.

“I’m fine, just got reminded of something very special from years ago,” He says with a small sad smile, “I miss life being simple, not having to worry about stuff like this.”

Doc nods in sympathy, “You’ve had one of the most dramatic transformations… I can’t imagine how difficult some things are.”

“It’s not easy, sometimes I forget about my horns and end up getting stuck in vines,” Xisuma, says rubbing the horns before grinning as he remembers something, “I forgot about my tail the other day and smacked it into one of my shops,” The offending limb waves before returning to swishing around the ground.

An odd look passes over Bdubs face as he listens once he’s finished speaking he growls, “Xisuma? Have you slept?”

Xisuma freezes like a deer in the headlights, his spines quivering nervously, “Um, I may have pulled a few all-nighters.”

Bdubs lets out a quiet hiss, “Sleep, tonight.”

Doc looks over, “Phantom,” He explains as Xisuma takes a small step back, his tail flicking cautiously.

Bdubs stands up, plonks the glasses on his face. Promptly realizes he can’t see anything with them when in the tunnel. Slides them up onto the top of his head, and starts walking to the end of the tunnel.

Xisuma and Doc look over at each other and start walking after him. As the tunnel slowly meets the mines Bdubs slows down, clearly nervous about leaving the darkness. 

Narrowing his eyes Doc flicks the glasses down so they are covering Bdubs eyes, “You’ll be fine.”

Bdubs glares at him, “Fine,” And stumbles blindly up the staircase to the entrance of the mine.

When they arrive at the surface Etho and Beef are waiting in Docs half house. They had been sending Doc and Bdubs messages wanting an update on the situation. When he failed to answer the pair made the decision to head over to the half-houses to wait for someone to show up and explain.

“Bdubs, what happened?” Etho asks as he pulls him into a hug.

“We think I’m turning into a phantom,” He mutters as he slowly slips his glasses down a bit, just enough to show his eyes to them for a moment.

Beef takes a step backward and pulls his arms in close to his chest. His back legs prancing nervously, “That’s terrifying.”

Etho gasps and leans closer, “Dude that’s pretty cool.”

At these words, Bdubs grins, “Doc? What do we do now?”

“Do you want to head over to the shopping district?” He asks, trying to think of a dark area without a ton of mobs.

Xisuma nods and walks into the nether heading back to his base, “I’ll get some papers about phantoms and get them to you tomorrow.”

He looks thoughtful for a moment, “Yeah,” The NHO members look over at each other, walk into the nether and start to head over. Beef and Etho heading back to their bases, promising to return tomorrow morning.

………….

As they emerge from the nether portal the sun has started to set over the magnificent box that is Grumbot. As the sun slowly dips below the Horizon, Bdubs is able to take his glasses off and slip them into their case. He blinks a few times getting used to the light and grins when nothing is blinding him.

Doc ushers him into the town hall, as they pass the diamond throne something catches Bdubs eye. He walks closer to the enormous throne and freezes. 

Jellie is sitting on the chair fast asleep. 

Bdubs lets out a terrified squeak and scrambles over to Doc, “Let's go.”

Doc nods understanding, “This way.”

As they swiftly walk past Jellie she wakes up and stretches her claws digging into the upholstery. She spots Doc and runs after him not wanting her favorite person pillow to leave.

“Here,” Doc says as he unlocks a door heading into the basement, “There are rooms down here, and since there’s no natural light your eyes should be fine.

“Thank you, Doc for everything,” As he says this he spots Jellie who walks into the room and lays down on the bed.

Doc freezes and stares wide-eyed at the purring cat. She flicks her tail gently and softly purrs. Now both Bdubs and Doc are backing up into the far wall.

She rolls over and meows at them. Both of them jump and Bdubs scrambles onto Doc’s back. The two stand in a stare-off with Jellie.

“Doc? I don’t like this,” Bdubs says, his voice breaking slightly.

“What part of this?” He hisses back.

Tears well in Bdubs green eyes, “All of it. I’ve never been the biggest fan of cats but I’ve never been scared of them. I can’t go outside without special glasses and the sun hurts.”

With a mournful hiss, Doc turns to face Bdubs, “If it makes you feel better, your eyes might be able to adjust so you can see normally.”

As Bdubs opens his mouth to answer a crash can be heard from up the stairs.

“Jellie! Where are you?” Scar calls as he carefully hops down the stairs. He’s spent a lot of magic working on terraforming the shopping district so the Vex barely has enough energy to get home much less fly. Thankfully Cub was in the area working on the Cinnamon roll shop.

“She’s in here,” Doc calls out to Scar as a second pair of footsteps make their way down the stairs.

Scar darts into the room and flutters as he tries to get on top of the bed so he can talk without having to look straight up, “Hi Bdubs, Doc. I’ll get Jellie out of here.”

“Thank you,” Bdubs squeaks.

“Scar? Is she down there?” Cub’s voice echoes down the hall.

“She sure is,” Scar replies as he starts waving her out of the room, “I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“See ya!” Bdubs yells after the small Vex who hops on to the cat's back and walks her out of the room.

Once Jellie is gone Bdubs drops to the floor and sits down on the bed with a heavy sigh, “What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know, but what I can tell you is I’ll be here and I won’t let you get hurt,” Doc mutters as he sits down next to Bdubs.

“Thanks, Doc.”


	2. Music Of The Night

Mumbo carefully follows Grian through the nether. Since Grian needs to get his barge restocked, Mumbo decides to tag along. As the duo arrive in the shopping district they split up. Grian heads over to his barge and Mumbo wanders over to Jrumbot’s shop. He hasn't visited the small robot in quite some time. 

The small robot lights up as Mumbo enters the shop, “You look like me now?” He asks curiously.

“I do, don’t I?” Mumbo chuckles as he sits next to the robot’s charging dock, his eyes turning a bright yellow, “There’s a magical rock that decided to change people. It made me look like this.”

“Everyone is a robot?” The small robot asks doubt filling his voice as he crosses his arms.

“No, it’s like, the meteor picks a trait that someone has then changed them to match that trait better.”

The small robot walks over to Mumbo and sits next to him, swinging his legs next to the much taller robot as they talk. After a while, Mumbo has to leave to give Grian a hand.

As Mumbo stands up to go and help Grian, Jrumbot speaks up, “You should go see Grumbot, he’s a little lonely.”

“Don’t you worry I’ll go and talk to him in a bit,” As he says this Jrumbot makes a happy noise and powers himself down until someone else walks into the shop.

Smiling to himself Mumbo walks towards the Barge, as he walks Doc comes running through a portal and nearly rams into him Doc trips and stumbles, “Oh, goodness. Doc are you ok?” The robot helps the creeper back to his feet.

“Sorry about that Mumbo,” Doc murmurs, “I need to get this to Bdubs,” He holds up a potion that glimmers slightly in the sunlight. He nods once to Mumbo then heads into the town hall.

By this time Grian has noticed Mumbo blinking in confusion and flutters over, “You ok?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” He explains what happened and shrugs.

Grian hums and shakes his wings out. Quite a few feathers drift off. Grian shrieks, “Mumbo, my feathers!”

Mumbo looks like a deer in the headlights, his eyes flashing bright blue in concern, “Call Tango?”

Shaking a bit Grian pulls his communicator out to call Tango. A few minutes later he puts the communicator down, “He has feathers that are falling out as well. He’s going to meet us here.”

As he waits Grian paces around nervously, he anxiously runs a hand through his hair. His feathers standing straight up. 

After a few minutes Doc rushes over with Bdubs trailing behind awkwardly, “Tango messaged me, you two are molting. It can take anywhere between a month and six.”

“Goodness,” Mumbo mutters.

Grian pales and flutters up to a perch, “So I’m just going to be shedding feathers for half a year?”

“For you two it’ll probably take a little bit over a month,” Doc explains, Tango shows up a moment later and Doc starts lecturing them both about how molting works and what’ll happen to them.

Mumbo tunes them out and looks over to Bdubs, “Are you ok?”

“Hm, oh I’m fine,” Bdubs stresses, “Just getting affected.”

“Have they figured out what’s happening?”

“I’m turning into a phantom,” He replies shortly, as he pushes his glasses up a bit.

Mumbo takes a moment processing the information, “Oh dear.”

Bdubs nods before he looks like he’s going to be sick. 

“Hey, are you ok?”

Bdubs inhales sharply and clamps his mouth shut. This draws Doc’s attention and he runs over recognizing the problem instantly, “Bdubs, you need to listen to your instincts.” 

Looking up Bdubs lets out an ear-splitting screech, before slamming his hand over his mouth. Mumbo’s eyes turn white in shock. Turning to look at Mumbo he stammers, “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to. I think it happens when someone hasn’t slept. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, I haven’t slept in a while,” At the glare, he receives from Doc he explains, “I’m a robot, to function properly I only have to shut down every week or so for a few hours.”

Doc nods and types that into his communicator, “Good to know. Bdubs how are you feeling?”

“My throat hurts,” he mumbles as he coughs a bit. 

………….

Bdubs frowns, as a small red feather drifts past. It has been a few days since Grian and Tango started molting and the server was slowly being overtaken by the colorful plumage. Most hermits don’t really mind the feathers, Jevin isn’t the biggest fan as they get stuck in his slime and Hypno is slightly allergic. The worst part is something nobody not even Doc had realized. The behavioral changes that come with the molting process. Both absolutely refuse to fly and they are pretty grumpy. Doc keeps sending them special foods to help them not get sick from a lack of certain nutrients.

Tango is under the shopping district working on his game and refuses to leave the relative safety of the cave. Every time Impulse and Zedaph come to see him he looks downright miserable and completely uncomfortable. 

Grian has stopped chirping, his voice is monotone and dry. He constantly looks exhausted and annoyed. He rarely talks to people unless they initiate the conversation. Iskall frequently visits to stop him from plucking at his feathers.

As Bdubs looks blankly at a wall his attention is drawn from his thoughts to a knock at the door, “Come on in.”

The door swings open revealing Beef, “Um, Cleo’s going to stop by in a bit.”

“Oh, why?” Bdubs asks, a bit confused.

“Uh, she said something about ‘magical sunscreen’. I don’t really know,” Beef mutters as he sits on the floor next to Bdubs who slides down to the floor to sit next to him.

“How’s your cyberpunk base coming?”

“Really well actually, it’s pretty easy to make lamp posts,” As he explains why he pulls out his communicator with a picture of the small city.

Bdubs yawns and binks, “Is your leg ok?”

“It’s fine, just a little sore,” The offending limb was gingerly stretched out instead of tucked under his body with the rest of his legs.

“What happened?”

“I fell in a hole. I think Etho’s been planting them around. Now I’ve got a question for you. Are you constantly tired because of this?”

Bdubs cracks a small smile, “Kinda, it’s more like I sleep in short bursts. Like I'll be up for a few hours then need to sleep for a bit. I don’t know the actual term for it.”

Beef nods and flicks his ears, his tail thumping softly on the ground, “That’s gotta suck.”

Shrugging Bdubs answers, “Eh, it’s annoying sure but it’s nothing compared to what you guys had to go through.”

“Don’t think like that,” Beef says as he looks at him sadly.

“Alright. Um, do you want to talk about anything in particular?” Bdubs asks as he slumps against Beef’s torso. The pair end up talking for a while. At some point, Bdubs passes out and is snoring quietly slumped against Beef.

Cleo knocks on the door.

Beef lets her in and shakes Bdubs awake.

“Hm, oh hi Cleo. What’s up?”

Cleo rolls her eyes and kneels down next to him, “I need to test something.”

Bdubs yawns and nods, “Alright, what do ya need?”

“I’ll cut to the chase when you go outside does it feel like you're getting sunburnt faster? Or like your skin is all tingly?”

“Uh, yeah actually,” Bdubs mumbles as Beef looks at him curiously.

“Ok, I want you to drink one of these every morning, it’ll keep you from burning,” As she says this she hands Bdubs a shimmering purple potion. It’s the same one Doc had a few days earlier, with all the chaos of Tango and Grian molting it had been forgotten.

“Thanks, Cleo,” Bdubs says as he stands up, “This is amazing.”

The zombie smirks at him, “Your welcome, I’ll drop some more off later,” As she leaves Beef stands up and looks him in the eyes.

“Serious question, how are you holding up?”

Bdubs seems to deflate, “Not too well, I still look mostly the same so it feels wrong when I scream or hiss at people. I don’t want to.”

Beef kneels down and wraps Bdubs in a hug.

………..

It’s a few hours after Beef has left for Three Fox Hole and Bdubs is completely passed out. He’s pretty much dead to the world at this point. Joe walks by his room and gently places an extra blanket over him, Bdubs frowns in his sleep and unnoticed by Joe a small bead of blood drips from his lips.

About thirty minutes later a crash can be heard from the room where Bdubs is. Joe rushes down the stairs and into the room, “Are you ok?”

Bdubs looks up, his eyes welling with tears, he opens his mouth to show him what had happened. His teeth had been replaced with razor-sharp fangs.

“That’s a no. Do you want some water?”

“Yes please,” Bdubs says as he inspects his teeth.

“Give me one moment,” Joe rummages around in his bag looking for a bottle of water. 

As Joe hands him the bottle he winces as he bites his lip again, “Thanks.”

“Your welcome, does anything else hurt?” Joe asks with genuine concern lacing his voice.

“My back,” Bdubs mutters, “Probably a tail.”

“I’d have to agree with you,” Joe frowns, “Do you want me to stay?”

“Yes, please.”

Joe nods and sits in a chair that’s near his bed, “Alright then, let me know if you need anything,” With that Joe pulls a book out and starts reading.

Bdubs nods and lays down on his stomach. He lets out a sigh and grabs a mirror. As he looks at his fangs he frowns. They’re too big for his mouth and they hurt. They’re incredibly sensitive and they hurt at any little thing that they come in contact with.

After about thirty minutes Bdubs gasps in pain as his tail bone starts to stretch and grow. Joe notices this and hurries over. The transformation picks up speed, and Bdubs screeches his knuckles turning white as he grips his pillow. 

The tail is currently just below his knees and is still growing. The area around the base of his tail is getting thicker and scales are starting to cover the tail. Small bone-like ridges are forming along the top of the tail. The scales on top of the tail are a dark blue, the ones on the bottom are more of a creamy flesh color.

By this point, the tail has finished growing and is just barely longer than his legs, when he walks it will drag on the ground unless he curls it up slightly. At the tip, there’s a sharp piece of exposed bone in the shape of a blade.

By now it’s too much for him to handle so Bdubs passes out. Joe carefully drapes a blanket over the top portion of his body, avoiding the new tail. It takes a few hours until he wakes up.

“Shoot,” He murmurs, “I thought I was dreaming.”

“Unfortunately that’s not the case,” Joe says as he helps him sit up.

Bdubs takes a moment to inspect his tail, he attempts to wiggle it and finds it easier than expected. As he flicks his tail he grins, Joe speaks up, “Do you want to try to walk?”

He nods, his smile falling, “Let’s get that over with.”

Joe helps him to his feet. He stands for a moment trying to sense where his balance is centered. When he doesn’t fall he grins and carefully steps forwards.

He doesn’t fall, and Xisuma picks this moment to burst into the room. naturally, he falls from the sudden startle, “Oh, goodness. You’re already up. Sorry about that.”

“Howdy Xisuma,” Joe nods.

“Hey X, it’s fine,” Bdubs awkwardly greets as his long tail calmly flicks from side to side.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all have enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Next up to be affected is Hypno and I would like to see what y’all want.
> 
> (Im trying to get bits pre-written so I have a bit of a buffer in case homework gets crazy.)


	3. Masquerade

Bdubs smiles, He’s back in his village and is staring up at the incredible cliff. Doc had decided that he would be fine being in his area and as long as he checks in every so often. As long as he properly checks in he’ll be allowed to stay without constant supervision.

As he stops working for a moment his tail flicks sporadically and he almost falls off of his scaffolding. Clambering down Bdubs frowns and flexes the odd new limb. Deciding that it would be safer to work on the ground he starts planting some flowers. He starts to feel a bit drowsy after a while so he heads back to his house and passes out for a while.

Once he wakes up he frowns, something doesn’t feel quite right. He sends a quick message to Doc asking him to come over. It’s a good thing he messaged when he did, as moments later he collapses to the ground clutching his ribs.

Bdubs screams in pain. The same bone ridges on his tail have started to extend out along his spine. Burning tears drip down his face as the ridges grow up to his neck. Gasping he reaches over and feels them. They don’t hurt when he touches them so he carefully stands up and stumbles into his sitting area.

Doc runs in a few minutes later, just in time for the transformation to pick up again. Bdubs shows him what had happened with his back and winces as his tail smacks into a table. He laughs it off and draws the slightly injured limb over and gently curls it up on his lap.

“Is your tail ok?” Doc asks as Bdubs rubs it.

“Fine, it's fine,” he laughs waving Doc’s concern off.

Hissing a bit Doc looks over, “Can I see your back again? Something seems off.”

“Uh, ok,” Bdubs turns so his back so it’s facing Doc. He rolls up the hem to give Doc a better line of sight.

Doc immediately notices what’s happening. Scales are creeping up his back most of them staying near the bone ridges. Some of the scales are further from his spine. The few scales that have appeared on his Side are the same creamy flesh as the ones on the underside of his tail. The rest are the dark blue that’s on the rest of his tail, “Bdubs, don’t freak out ok. You have scales all over your back. They don’t appear to be spreading.”

Bdubs face drops from absolutely terrified to relaxed, “Ok. I thought you were going to tell me that my ribs were poking out.”

“Well, that might happen.”

“I’ve probably just jinxed myself,” He grumbles.

Doc gives a small laugh at that, “Hopefully not.”

The pair take some time and continue to talk with each other until Bdubs goes back to sleep. Doc sticks around while he’s sleeping. Once he wakes up they realize exactly what was happening. He’s getting all the typical markings of a phantom.

He pulls a face and looks over at Doc, “This probably isn’t going to end well.”

Doc shrugs in agreement, and hisses softly, “Bdubs look at your ribs.”

“What? Why would- oh, that’s disgusting,” Bdubs looks down at his chest and sees bones that had grown from some of the ridges. They wrap around his chest like a secondary set of ribs. There are a few ‘ribs’ encircling his tail and he flicks it experimentally. The new bone structures aren’t impeding the tails movement at all so he stands up and moves his back, testing his flexibility.

…………….

A few days pass without further incident, Bdubs learns how to properly deal with his tail and speak with his fangs. Everything has calmed down and things are pretty chill. 

It’s almost night time and Bdubs is yawning suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of fatigue. He looks a bit confused for a moment then shrugs and goes to sleep. 

He squints his eyes in the morning light, he makes a very confusing noise and pulls his communicator over. Thankfully his eyes have been able to adjust to the relative darkness of the indoors. He calls Doc.

“So, you suddenly went back to a somewhat normal sleep schedule?” Doc asks as he checks Bdubs back.

“Yeah, it’s weird, I got exhausted right as the sun started going down,” He explains as he yawns.

“Well, it looks like you're back to your normal sleep schedule. I’ll come back tonight to see if anything happens, ok?”

“That’ll be great,” Bdubs says as he stands up and stretches.

As the day progresses he seems to have gone back to sleep for thirty minutes every four hours. He gives Doc a sharp-toothed grin as he comes closer to completing part of a road that reaches out to the cliff then has a bit of a roundabout and loops back into itself. 

Of course, he drags Doc into helping, “So, what do ya think?” 

“This looks amazing,” Doc murmurs as they sit down for a break next to the river. A fish catches his eye and he tracks its movement with his head.

Seeing that he’s hunting Bdubs stifles a laugh as his tail flicks.

Doc glares at the fish and pounces. Water splashes everywhere, Bdubs tries to see what happened. Doc looks over with the fish clamped in his jaws and hisses happily. As he tilts back to swallow the fish flails and smacks his face with its tail.

Startled he drops the fish back into the water and it zooms off. Bdubs is laughing his head off, “Your face when you got smacked, that was priceless.”

Doc grins evilly and walks over to him. He pulls him over and hugs him.

Screeching Bdubs attempts to wiggle out of the normally tactile avoidant creeper’s hug, “Why! What did I do?”

Doc laughs and lets him go, by now the sun is about to set. Bdubs runs off to sleep for a bit then rejoins him in a while after he wakes up. As the sun dips below the horizon a scream sounds from his house. Doc’s eyes go wide as he runs towards him.

As he arrives he sees Bdubs shirt has been torn off by, “Are those wings?” Doc asks as Bdubs pokes at the bat-like wings. 

There’s a thick membrane of skin stretching down his arm ending at his wrists, it connects along his spine. Looking curiously he moves his arms around testing the wings.

As a few days of testing later they’ve figured that Bdubs isn’t going to be able to fly with the wings. This was determined after multiple accounts of him falling. The wings materialize at night and turn to dust as the sun rises. 

Naturally, Bdubs complains about this and Keralis nods in sympathy, buzzing his own wings. If he wants to fly he has to pin them under a pair of elytra and that’s uncomfortable to the point of almost being painful.

…………..

As the sun rises high over the shopping district Bdubs walks over to the lama shop, he’s helping Beef restock. He helps carry the hay bales over and stacks then around the barrel that’s full of collapsed versions for sale.

“Thanks for the help.”

“It’s no problem, really,” Bdubs says as he finishes adjusting the hay, “What else do we need?”

Beef nods, “More lama blankets.” 

“Let's go,” Bdubs grins, his tail flicking happily.

The pair walk over the bridge and head towards the part of Beef’s, lama storage that houses the blankets. As they gather the blankets something starts happening with the meteor. 

It glows a bright green and bits of ash start to flake off, Doc looks at it for a minute before snatching his communicator and messaging Bdubs in a panic.

DocM77: Bdubs, you need to get somewhere safe. Now 

Error message not sent

The meteor sends a message moments later, “You can’t warn him like that. You have five minutes to find him.”

His eyes go wide as he realizes what the meteor means. Heart pounding he rushes out and jumps into the air opening his elytra with a snap. 

Bdubs grins as he and Beef cross the bridge to the shopping district. They make it almost halfway across when Bdubs falls to the ground unmoving.

“Are you ok?” Beef asks as he extends a hand to help him up he pulls it back when he notices what’s happening.

His back arches as his scales swiftly cover the rest of him. His wings materialize and immediately start smoking. Black ash floats off as his legs disappear and his head changes shape. 

Panicking Beef stomps his hooves and covers the phantom in blankets. 

Bdubs lets a small trill out in thanks for getting him away from the blistering hot sun all though his wings are still hurting. It’s about midday so trying to move him in either direction across the bridge wouldn’t work.

Spotting Beef, Doc drops from the sky and lands next to him, “Is that Bdubs?” He asks, gesturing towards the lump of blankets on the ground. 

“Yeah, He fell then became a full phantom he’s pretty small for one though.”

Doc glares, “Call X. See if he’ll turn it to night so we can move him.”

Beef nods and pulls his communicator out, after a few minutes Xisuma replies, “He says he’ll send a message to the chat and then he’ll do it.”

“Good,” Doc growls as he receives a message from the meteor.

“He’s not going to burn up completely. He’s not a full phantom. He’ll just get horrible blisters and even if he did die you people respawn so it’s not like he would stay dead.”

“That’s not the point,” Doc shoots back, “It’s not fun to die and it’s just plain cruel.”

The sun flickers for a moment before it fades past the horizon as Xisuma turns it to night.

Doc gently takes the blanket off of Bdubs. Who gives him a happy purr and nudges him with his head. Looking over at Beef who nods, Doc picks Bdubs up and puts him on his back. They enter the first house they see. Which turns out to be Jevin’s starter base.

Bdubs manages to flop over, off of Beef, and lands on the floor of the building with a dull thud.

“You ok?” Doc asks as he flips the phantom over so he’s on his stomach.

He nods his head and screeches softly. 

Beef carefully steps over the squirming phantom and takes a look at his wings, “Doc, are his wings supposed to look like this?”

“Let me see,” Doc mutters as he carefully brushes his hand over the wings. The normally thick scaly wings are burnt and have blisters popping up from the short time he was in the sun, “That’s not good.”

“It looks like he can’t feel it or he’s ignoring the pain,” Beef murmurs, “Healing potion?”

“Good, can you get me a harming one as well?”

“Yeah, wait, why?” 

“Phantoms are technically undead so health Potions might have the opposite effect.”

Beef nods and heads off to retrieve the potions. Doc sits next to Bdubs, the phantom is looking at his wings sadly. He puts his chin on the ground and gently wiggles his tail. He stops quickly as it hurts to pull his wings.

“Bdubs, can you think of something you love to do as a human?” Doc asks.

The small phantom looks confused before he realizes what Doc is trying to do, he nods.

After almost five minutes a mostly human Bdubs is sitting on the floor scrambling to get his pants back on. As he twists his wings freezes as pain shoots through.

Beef returns moments later and hands him a two of the potions, “You’re you again, we don’t know if the potions have switched for you so can you tell us which one works for you?”

Bdubs nods and studies each potion intently he settles on the healing potion. When he drinks it the burns on his wings fade-away leaving some pretty nasty scars. He yawns and stumbles over to a couch and falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading I hope y’all Have enjoyed And have a good day/night

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y’all have enjoyed reading!


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